Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) Opens Proto Anime Cut - Spaces and visions in Japanese animation

Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV) presents Proto Anime Cut – Spaces and visions in Japanese animation, on view 9 July–9 October 2011. Opening: Friday, 8 July 2011, 18:00.

With works by:
Hideaki Anno (JP), Haruhiko Higami (JP), Koji Morimoto (JP), Hiromasa Ogura (JP), Mamoru Oshii (JP), Takashi Watabe (JP)

Curated by Stefan Riekeles (Les Jardins des Pilotes, Berlin) and David d’Heilly (2dk, Tokyo)

Since the success of Akira (1988) and Ghost in the Shell (1995), Japanese anime films have been among the most important milestones in global pop culture. The action-packed hero stories and the visionary science fiction of Japanese Anime are set in impressive worlds that are constructed in painstaking detail. Looking at the creative processes, the film makers appear as architectural dreamers who operate with virtuosity at the borders of credibility, fiction and utopia. The exhibition focuses on the development of these arenas of action and narrative scenarios. Numerous background paintings, storyboards, drafts, sources of inspiration and film excerpts provide insight into the working methods of the most successful animation artists of the last two decades.

The presented artists have played key roles in the development of Anime. By cooperating closely in different production studios in Tokyo they gave their distinctive signatures to many films and developed the prototypical Anime style. Their works, from 1987 to 2009, are shown for the first time as individual works of artistic creativity, beyond their role in the production of films. The six artists selected for this exhibition have worked together on major film projects in various configurations. They are united by their interest in real-kei, a form of science fiction that deals with the realistic design of possible world-views and realistic visions of the future.

Most of the works have not been presented in public so far. Proto Anime Cut is the first exhibition and publication project outside Japan to highlight an individual and inspiring artistic practice on the crossroads of film, fine art and pop culture.

Proto Anime Cut – Spaces and visions in Japanese animation is a project by Les Jardins des Pilotes (Berlin) in cooperation with 2dk (Tokyo) and is curated by Stefan Riekeles and David d’Heilly. The exhibition is co-produced by Obra Social Caja Madrid (Spain) and will be presented in Barcelona and Madrid in 2012. The publication Proto Anime Cut Archive is published by Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg/Berlin.

Alongside Proto Anime Cut – Spaces and visions in Japanes animation the HMKV exhibition Gone to Croatan – Strategies of Disappearance will be on view from 9 July to 14 August on the sixth floor of the Dortmunder U.

Publication:
Riekeles, Stefan (Editor): Proto Anime Cut Archive. Illustrations by H. Anno, H. Higami, K. Morimoto, H. Ogura, M. Oshii, T. Watabe. Ca. 350 pages with ca. 380 colour and b/w illustrations. Heidelberg/Berlin 2011. Kehrer Verlag.

Opening hours:
Tue–Wed 10:00–18:00
Thu–Fri 10:00–20:00
Sat–Sun 11:00–18:00
Closed on Mondays

Guided exhibition tours:
Each Thursday at 18:00 and each Sunday at 16:00
HMKV at the Dortmunder U, 3rd floor (included in the admission)
If you would like to book a private guided tour, please contact us via [email protected].

Film programme:
Film programme to be shown from 10th September on in context of the Japan Media Arts Festivals (JMAF) at RWE Forum I Kino im U

HMKV Events (t.b.a.):
Sat, 9 July, 18:00
Graffiti Analysis Station – Digital Graffiti Tagging at the Dortmunder U
Sat, 6 August–Sun, 7 August, 11:00-18:00
How to make a new identity – workshop with Heath Bunting
Sun, 11 September, 16:00
Guided exhibition tour for families (included in the admission)
Sat, 17 September, 11:00–16:00 – Sun, 18 September, 11:00–18:00
Becoming Mangaka – workshop
Sat, 24 September–Sun, 25 September, 11:00–18:00
Machinima – workshop
Sat, 1 October, 16:00
Exhibition tour for children (11th Dortmund DEW21-Long night of museums)
Sat, 1 October, 16:00–22:00
Drawing Manga (11th Dortmund DEW21-Long night of museums)
Sat, 1 October, 19:00
LED-Throwie – event (11th Dortmund DEW21-Long night of museums)